Bible Version: New International Version (NIV)
Application Notes: Life Application Study Bible (NIV)
ISAIAH 6
Isaiah’s Commission
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?”
And he answered:
“Until the cities lie ruined
and without inhabitant,
until the houses are left deserted
and the fields ruined and ravaged,
12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away
and the land is utterly forsaken.
13 And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.
But as the terebinth and oak
leave stumps when they are cut down,
so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Application Notes
6:1-13 Isaiah's vision included his call to be God's messenger to his people. Isaiah was given a difficult mission—to tell people who believed they would be blessed by God that instead they would be destroyed by God because of their disobedience.
6:1-4 Isaiah's lofty view of God gives us a sense of God's greatness, mystery, and power. Isaiah's example of recognizing his sinfulness before God encourages us to confess our own sin. His picture of forgiveness reminds us that we, too, are forgiven. When we recognize how great our God is, how sinful we are, and the extent of God's forgiveness, we receive power to do his work. How does your concept of the greatness of God measure up to Isaiah's?
6:1-3 The throne, the attending seraphim (angels), and the threefold holy all stress God's holiness. Seraphim were a type of angel whose name is derived from the word for “burn,” perhaps indicating their purity as God's ministers. In a time when moral and spiritual decay had peaked, Isaiah needed to see God in his holiness. Being holy means being morally perfect pure, and set apart from all sin. Like Isaiah, we need to discover God's holiness. Our daily frustrations, society's pressures, and our shortcomings reduce and narrow our view of God. We need the Bible's view of God as high and lifted up to empower us to gain the right perspective between our humanness and his perfection so that we can serve him properly. Ask him to purify you from sin, cleanse your mind from fruitless pursuits, and give you a fresh vision of himself.
6:1 The year that King Uzziah died was approximately 740 BC. He remained leprous until he died because he tried to take over the high priest's duties (2 Chronicles 26:18-21). Although Uzziah was generally a good king and had a long and prosperous reign, many of his people turned away from God while he was in power.
6:5-8 Seeing the Lord and listening to the praise of the angels, Isaiah realized that he was sinful and unclean before God, with no hope of measuring up to God's holiness. When one of the seraphim touched Isaiah's lips with a burning coal, however, he told Isaiah that Isaiah's sins were forgiven. The coal didn't cleanse him; God did. In response, Isaiah submitted himself entirely to God's service. No matter how difficult his task would be, he said, “Here am I. Send me!” The painful cleansing process was necessary before Isaiah could fulfill the task to which God was calling him. Today, the cross is our “live coal” representing how Jesus' death cleanses us. Before we accept God's call to speak for him to those around us, we must be cleansed as Isaiah was, confessing our sins and submitting to God's control. Letting God purify us may be painful, but we must be purified so that we can truly represent God, who is pure and holy.
6:8 The more clearly Isaiah saw God (6:5), the more aware he became that without God he was powerless and inadequate to do anything of lasting value. But Isaiah was willing to be God's spokesman. When God calls, will you also say, “Here am I. Send me!”?
6:9-13 God told Isaiah that the people would listen but not learn from his message because their hearts had become calloused and hardened beyond repentance. God's patience with their chronic rebellion had finally been exhausted. His judgment was to abandon them to their rebellion and hardness of heart. Why did God send Isaiah if he knew the people wouldn't listen? Although most of the people would not repent and would reap judgment, a small portion would listen. In 6:13 we see God's plan for a remnant (holy seed) of faithful followers. God is merciful even when he judges. We can gain encouragement from God's promise to preserve his people. If we are faithful to him, we can be sure of his mercy, even when we live in a sinful society.
6:11-13 When would the people listen? Only when they had come to the end of their rope and in desperation had nowhere to turn but to God. This would happen when the land was destroyed by invading armies and the people were taken into captivity. The “tenth” is either those who remained in the land after the captivity or those who returned from Babylon to rebuild the land. Each group was about a tenth of the total population. When will we listen to God? Must we, like Judah, go through calamities before we will have ears to hear God's words? Consider what God may be telling you, and obey him before time runs out.
Taken from Life Application Study Bible - Third Edition - (NIV)